What does a clinical trial coordinator do?
A clinical trial coordinator is responsible for assisting in medical trials and clinical research studies. Clinical trial coordinators support the whole operational process of medical research from its conceptualization until the final outputs. They manage the adequacy of tools and equipment, ensuring the cleanliness and orderliness of the facilities to prevent potential hazards and delays in laboratory testing. A clinical trial coordinator must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in writing progress reports and securing the acquired laboratory samples.
Clinical trial coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical trial coordinator resumes:
- Establish and maintain strong community partnerships to achieve HIV prevention objectives.
- Coordinate grant and IRB renewals and submissions; and preparation of publications, study protocols and manuals of operations.
- Develop a GUI tool for volume & surface area of lesion/hematoma/edema in stroke MRI.
- Privilege to negotiation principles from the consumers stand point within the divisions of: oncology, bariatric, cosmetic & cardiovascular.
- Compose SPSS syntax to simplify data import process, reducing the time require from a full day to a few minutes.
- Analyze collected data using SPSS to determine possible significant findings.
- Review protocol and prepare documentation for IRB initial approval and renewal.
- Facilitate the management in completing general formalities relate to the patients, like insurance and medical reports generations.
- Assist research directors and medical staff in communicating potential pharmaceutical and medical equipment interactions with clinical trial patients.
- Certify to administer study specific scales necessary to measure participate compliance, patient health, and study medicine efficacy.
- Review and confirm language used in the approved ICF.
- Review, negotiate and approve site-specific and study-specific ICF language.
- Background research in apply applications for disease biomarkers for potential diagnostics using genetics/genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, pharmacogemomics and forensics.
Clinical trial coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Clinical Trial Coordinators are proficient in Clinical Trials, Patients, and Informed Consent. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Trial Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Clinical Trials, 12%
Assisted in depleting backlog of clinical trial complaints by effectively monitoring, researching, and analyzing complaint outcomes and summarizing reports.
- Patients, 11%
Verified patients' insurance eligibility and benefits for Medicare, Maryland state Medical Assistance and commercial insurances for all research participants.
- Informed Consent, 10%
Reviewed all study documentation, including informed consent.
- IRB, 4%
Reviewed protocol and prepared documentation for IRB initial approval and renewal.
- Meeting Minutes, 4%
Organized and facilitated weekly Clinical Development Team meetings, recorded meeting minutes, and logged Action and Decision items for follow-up.
- FDA, 4%
Experience in GCP-regulated environment protocols, FDA submissions and other Regulatory Agencies.
"clinical trials," "patients," and "informed consent" are among the most common skills that clinical trial coordinators use at work. You can find even more clinical trial coordinator responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a clinical trial coordinator to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what clinical trial coordinators do because "natural sciences managers must be able to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences, such as scientists, policymakers, and the public." Additionally, a clinical trial coordinator resume shows how clinical trial coordinators use communication skills: "coordinated communications between the study monitor, the principal investigator, the clinical site investigator and the sponsor. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform clinical trial coordinator duties is interpersonal skills. Clinical trial coordinators responsibilities require that "natural sciences managers lead research teams and therefore need to work well with others in order to reach common goals." Clinical trial coordinators also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "participate in team meetings and the ability to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills and work effectively within the team. "
Leadership skills. clinical trial coordinators are also known for leadership skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to clinical trial coordinator responsibilities, because "natural sciences managers must be able to organize, direct, and motivate others." A clinical trial coordinator resume example shows how leadership skills is used in the workplace: "support coordination and leadership for clinical trials that involve industry-sponsored trials. "
Problem-solving skills. For certain clinical trial coordinator responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a clinical trial coordinator rely on this skill, as "natural sciences managers use scientific observation and analysis to find answers to complex technical questions." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what clinical trial coordinators do: "handled patient consents, data collection, drug accountability, and query resolution from sponsoring pharmaceutical companies. "
Time-management skills. Another common skill required for clinical trial coordinator responsibilities is "time-management skills." This skill comes up in the duties of clinical trial coordinators all the time, as "natural sciences managers must be able to perform multiple administrative, supervisory, and technical tasks while ensuring that projects remain on schedule." An excerpt from a real clinical trial coordinator resume shows how this skill is central to what a clinical trial coordinator does: "identified and escalated risks to clinical trial or production timelines from a supply chain perspective. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical trial coordinators are:
- System One12 clinical trial coordinators jobs
- Kaiser Permanente5 clinical trial coordinators jobs
- Brigham and Women's Hospital4 clinical trial coordinators jobs
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Compare different clinical trial coordinators
Clinical trial coordinator vs. Research nurse
A research nurse specializes in conducting studies and scientific research for healthcare and medical development. They may work for medical facilities, private clinics, learning institutions, and government agencies. It is their duty to design research strategies and procedures, gather and analyze samples through various scientific methods, coordinate with other experts, and develop treatment and healthcare plans to optimize patient services and outcomes. Moreover, a research nurse typically works with a team of researchers, which requires an active communication line while adhering to the organization's policies and regulations.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a clinical trial coordinator are more likely to require skills like "clinical trials," "meeting minutes," "patient care," and "cra." On the other hand, a job as a research nurse requires skills like "research projects," "gcp," "clinical care," and "human subjects." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Research nurses earn the highest salaries when working in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average yearly salary of $61,182. On the other hand, clinical trial coordinators are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $57,791.The education levels that research nurses earn slightly differ from clinical trial coordinators. In particular, research nurses are 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a clinical trial coordinator. Additionally, they're 3.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical trial coordinator vs. Study director
Technically, a study director carries out scientific responsibilities for protocol design or study plan and approval. Study directors supervise the gathering, analysis, interpretation, documentation, and reporting of data results. They handle the matriculation of students with regard to data management system development. Working with the computer systems team is part of their duties so they will be able to establish a data management system in tracking the study participants. They also support the toxicology team or group on different project teams.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that clinical trial coordinator responsibilities requires skills like "clinical trials," "patients," "meeting minutes," and "patient care." But a study director might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "toxicology," "study design," "project management," and "data interpretation."
Study directors earn a higher average salary than clinical trial coordinators. But study directors earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $87,246. Additionally, clinical trial coordinators earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $57,791 annually.In general, study directors achieve higher levels of education than clinical trial coordinators. They're 7.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 3.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical trial coordinator vs. Senior research associate
A Senior Research Associate works closely with research team members to implement research ideas. They diagnose, solve system/software problems, and install application software according to research needs.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a clinical trial coordinator is likely to be skilled in "meeting minutes," "patient care," "cra," and "internal audit," while a typical senior research associate is skilled in "crispr," "molecular biology," "cell culture," and "flow cytometry."
Senior research associates make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $89,446. On the other hand, clinical trial coordinators are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $57,791.Most senior research associates achieve a higher degree level compared to clinical trial coordinators. For example, they're 9.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 8.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical trial coordinator vs. Research administrator
A research administrator oversees the progress of research programs, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities mostly revolve around devising strategies to optimize processes, coordinating different departments, setting goals and objectives, managing the schedule and budgets, and maintaining records of all transactions. There are also instances when a research administrator must produce progress reports, participate in gathering surveys and feedbacks, and resolve issues promptly and professionally. Furthermore, as a research administrator, it is essential to lead and encourage team members to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Types of clinical trial coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025
